Mauritia
(named after Prince Maurice, of Nassau, 1567-1665, a supporter of natural history). Including Orophoma. ORD. Palmae. A genus comprising six or seven species of handsome, large-growing, unarmed, stove Palms, natives of Northern Brazil, Guiana, and the West Indies. Flower-spikes pendulous, produced from amongst the leaves, often very large, and bearing the flowers in numerous catkins, which are sheathed at the base. Fruit large, clothed with hard scales, overlapping, like a coat of mail. Leaves in a large crown, fan-shaped. Mauritias thrive best in a compost of loam and peat; and the pots should, if possible, be placed in tanks of water. Propagated by seeds, sown in a hotbed, in spring.
M. aculeata (prickly). l. flabelliform-pinnatifid; pinnae lanceolate-linear, spinulosely ciliated, densely glaucous beneath. Caudex spiny. Tropical America. A curious and handsome species.
M. flexuosa (flexuous). l. flabelliform-pinnatifid, dark green on both surfaces; petioles semi-terete, channelled. Caudex unarmed. Tropical America, 1816. A handsome plant.